Plant-Based Diet for Athletes

How Tom Lost 30 Pounds and Went from ‘Average’ to Plant-Based Marathoner

By: Matt Frazier

Average.

That’s how Tom Giammalvo describes his health and lifestyle prior to 2010. Not atrocious, not disgusting, not embarrassing. Not any of the extreme, negative descriptors we’ve come to expect with stories of transformation. Just average.

And that’s why his is the perfect one to share. As far as his health was concerned, Tom wasn’t the guy you see on The Biggest Loser. Instead, he was your next door neighbor.

Tom is an RN at Falmouth Hospital in Massachusetts. When he worked night shifts in the intensive care unit, the odd hours made it difficult to find a healthy routine.

The way he describes it, “I ate an average American diet. Food was the least of my worries.”

At the peak, Tom weighed around 190 pounds. Just 0.9 below average. (more…)

The Simplest, Most Important Key to Changing Anything

By: Matt Frazier

We know that willpower is a finite resource. And if you’ve tried unsuccessfully to make changes in the past (who hasn’t?), you know that every subsequent time you try is harder than the previous. So what if there were a way to change bad habits without willpower, and with almost no effort at all? In […]

3 Steps for Setting New Year’s Goals that Actually Work

By: Matt Frazier

New Year’s resolutions don’t stick. Everyone knows it, and it’s now become almost cliched to push for a “no-resolutions New Year’s.” But let’s make a big distinction here. On the one hand, you have the ill-fated type of resolution we’re all familiar with: “I won’t smoke in 2012.” “I’ll start my exercise plan on January […]

The Thing that Keeps You From Doing Great Things

By: Matt Frazier

Somewhere inside your head, my head, and everyone else’s head is a traitor. Meet the Resistance. The job of the Resistance is to keep you where you are. Because where you are is safe, and it’s pretty tough to fail when you’re standing still. What the Resistance looks like When you stare, paralyzed, at the […]

30 Lessons My Parents Didn't Teach Me

By: Matt Frazier

Some things you just have to learn yourself. I’ve never considered myself “wise,” and I still don’t. Smart, sure — mainly because my parents constantly told me that I was, and because school was easy for me. (Probably just a result of believing I was smart. Thanks, Mom and Dad.) But not wise. That’s not […]

You Have All the Time You Need: How to Find an Extra Hour and Start Something Awesome Today

By: Matt Frazier

In a million years, I wouldn’t have thought Comcast would be the one to finally get me to cancel my cable. Freeing myself from the grips of the idiot box was something I had wanted to do for years. People I respect had convinced me that cancelling my cable could change my life, even add […]

When Failure Isn't (and the Best Stuff I Read Last Week)

By: Matt Frazier

Two weeks and one day from now, I’ll be running the Boston Marathon. I love how that sounds, so let me say it once more: In two weeks, I will be running the Boston Marathon. If you’re new here, you might not know the story, so I’ll repeat it. Because I’m proud of it. Qualifying […]

Not Sure What To Do? Try Starting

By: Matt Frazier

At South by Southwest Interactive (the conference where I’ve been for the past week), there’s a lot of “free shit” to be garnered. Mostly, “free” takes the form of tacos and empanadas from the scores of food trucks in Austin. And it sometimes shows up as beer (usually Miller Lite but often Shiner Bock, which […]

The Fight Club Method of Achieving Your Goals

By: Matt Frazier

Remember that scene in Fight Club where Tyler Durden holds a gun to the head of the guy working in the convenience store? Tyler asks the terrified guy (Raymond) what he studied in college. When Raymond admits he wanted to become a veterinarian, Tyler tells him that if in three weeks he isn’t well on […]

Get Motivated! 11 Ideas That Really Work

By: Matt Frazier

God bless my mother-in-law. The other day, I did an interview with Dustin from Fit Marriage for a new series he’s doing about active couples. To prepare, I asked my wife, Erin, what advice she might give in the realm of fitness for couples. You know, a tip or two we’ve used to keep from […]